Look At This Amazing Jumping Kangaroo Robot

Saturday

Apr 5, 2014 at 1:02 PM

Dylan Love

German robotics firm Festo has come up with a unique take on robot locomotion.

Their newest robot is built on the principle of "recovering, storing, and releasing energy based on a natural model" in order to move around. In this case, the "natural model" is a kangaroo, so Festo's robot literally jumps to get from A to B.

Here's what it looks like at speed:

And here's what it looks like slowed down:

The kangaroo's jump process is divided into three phases, outlined in the diagram below. First is the take-off phase, in which the kangaroo leans forward to shift its center of gravity before engaging valves in its legs for take-off. During the flight phase, it moves its legs forward in preparation for landing and raises its tail. Then it finally lands.

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